Star Wars Rebels – S4E11 – DUME

Note – I’d love to steer clear of it, but this review is going to contain pretty hefty spoilers. This late in the game it’s nigh-on impossible to talk about the episode without spoiling something. I’d rather give you some fully fledged thoughts rather than feel like all four limbs are tied behind my back!

The emotional devastation caused by the events of ‘Jedi Night’ is dealt with in very different ways by the crew of the Ghost. DUME can be pretty cleanly split into three parts. I’ve got some thoughts on these so I’ll split them up.

Hera and Chopper – The best part of episode. Easy to forget that Hera is effectively Chopper’s mum, so when he holds her hand it’s a tear-jerking moment. His beeps and boops aren’t always clear, but as they discuss Kanan and the impact he had it’s clear that he understands the situation very well. They’re grief turning into a renewed sense of hope felt genuine and not rushed.

Ezra – Loth-Wolfs. I’m not sure about them. I know that Filoni loves a bit of imagery but I’m not sold on them. As a chap who likes answers, and things to be a bit clearer, these guys always drag me out of the story. Like Hera and Chop, Ezra’s mini-arc felt right for him, so even though it’s a bit confusing for me, I think it will come together to make sense. We’ve lost the Jedi Knight. But what of the Padawan? I can understand Ashoka being around and not counting in the various quotes we could pull from the OT. But Ezra has come into contact with both Yoda and Obi-Wan, and is definitely not grey.

Zeb and Sabine – Ugh. I get that they might want to take something from the Empire after their loss, but this is the weakest section by far. Between Zeb being oddly creeped out by Ruhk and Sabine announcing her presence, I’d love to put this down to ‘it’s a kid’s show’. But it felt dumb. Ruhk is meant to be a hardcore assassin, not getting mugged off by two Rebels. His initial appearance marked him as something to fear, but that hasn’t really worked out. Now, with his gimmicky tech, he’s still getting knocked out. Though I did like how dark Zeb was turning on him. The Noghri haven’t been introduced in a way that will make his Legends story come to pass, but they could at least not tone him down so much.

DUME should be commended for giving the characters time to grieve in their own ways. I found it a bit clumsy in places but the Hera/Chopper scenes were plenty enough for me. That their loss resulted in the shutdown of the factories on Lothal (a possible hammer blow to the Defender project), is small comfort at the moment. But Rebels only has four episodes left, so it’s going to need to get its skates on if we’re going to get decent conclusions for each character. Rebels has been a great over the past four years; let’s hope it doesn’t make a mess of the finish.